Setting The Boundaries

-What is this?

-An irregular hole full of roots from what I see.

Lucy and Planck surrounded a place where once grew a tree. They were staring into a hole with some of the roots still in there.

-If you think you're funny you're dead wrong. Where is the tree!? How are we supposed to get a precise result!?

-An estimate is fine Lucy, we have the hole and we can put a stick in there. Nobody is going to be bothered by a fence being off by a digit or two if even that.

A cold sweat broke down Planck's back. Whenever he suggested to save time and effort by a 'good enough' estimate Lucy would stare at him as if he had insulted her, her parents, her grandparents, and her great-grandparents.

-I know how to solve this. We're replanting that tree.

-...We're what now?

-What, you expect me to anchor the rope to the air?

Flood was bad, but this plot was hit especially hard. Doors fell from the hinges, roof flew off making the house look like an open chest. Fence and the shed, alongside its insides, were scattered throughout the entire property. Do not forget the still slightly wet dirt. The tree itself was moved so far they couldn't spot it. Or maybe they could, but as the saying goes "hide a tree in the forest". Some of the other areas used stronger land markers like buildings, but even others who used trees were not hit as heavily.

-You go look what we can use from the shed and I'll look for the tree.

-What shed? You want me to look through the mud to find tools?! Can't you just use your tool bag if we actually need something?

-That would be no fun, it's almost as if we're cheating. Good luck.

Planck wanted to stop her, but she was already on her way to the forest. A day will come where she will do the dirty work. Or so he promised himself. He slowly turned his head back and gathered resolve to rummage through mud in search of what once were neatly sorted tools on a wall.

Lucy happily strolled through a flood devastated forest. Albeit that description might be a little dramatic. Some of the trees fell and were clearly moved by tens, maybe hundreds of meters, but not all of them. Most of the water went away, leaving but a couple of puddles. Excluding a couple of birds, wildlife has yet to return from hiding.
She kept walking perpendicularly to the river, admiring the destruction. But also the logical beauty of what was left behind. She picked up a leaf and imagined its fractal pattern. Start with a line, from the middle emerge two more lines at an acute angle. Repeat the process for every line emerging, recursion at its finest.

-A pity I don't get to see this side of nature often.. And it doesn't start at the leaf! The structure starts at the trunk! From there emerge roots and branches, they follow the same subdivision process and sprout..

As she started to lose track of the task at hand something caught her eye. Every surviving tree around her looked like perfect fractal canopy. 
-I overdid it... Well, might as well find the lost one. 

As she decided so it happened. When she started looking around, the tree was lying to her right, on other trees that caved under its mass. It was a plant in much need of assistance, its roots bare, branches broken and if she were to guess it weighed a ton and a half.

-Now, how do I get you back where you belong... It would be nice if you just fly back.

She said as she squatted and poked tree's trunk. As she looked back to where the tree would need to go, the path looked almost as if someone had rolled a huge boulder, leaving the sky perfectly visible if you were to follow the destruction. Lucy started grinning to herself.

-Actually, that might work. 

Meanwhile back at the plot.

-It's so soft, I can't. Ugh, and the hammer is all dirty too. MY SHOES OH NO! IT'S IN MY SOCKS! That's it. Why am I supposed to do it? It's not even my shed!

Poor lad gathered his courage and made his way to the property owner's house.

A scream was audible from a distance. As if devil herself wanted to add to his misery.

-Planck! Have you found anything useful?

Bucket, soap, a new pair of socks... I'm not sure we have the same definition of useful right now...

-Some tools and planks... Used to be fence if I were to guess.

-Woah, you look like a pig.

-And why do you think that is!?

-We gotta borrow a cart and move all this, I've got an idea how to bring the tree here.

-Do I want to know?

-We're building a ballista!

For a moment Planck forgot about his sorry appearance and was somewhat excitedly smiling.

-Arms strengthened with bronze plates and strung with horsehair, it can propel heavy bolts up to a mile away...

-You sure know your way around military engineering.

-And I also know we can't build it! Besides even IF we built it, it would never shoot a TREE. It has nothing to do with engineering, it's plain insanity.

-A regular ballista couldn't. But we're not regular. Start putting the tools and planks on the cart.